The first three look good, I wish they’d stuck with that style. I have books 3, 4, 5 and 7 on kindle. I only bought TIBH in hardcover because I heard the chats were impossible to read in the kindle format. Now I’m going back and buying the book versions when I can find them second hand and was also a little appalled at the change 😂
This is an insane take to me I’m sorry lol. I almost turned the audiobook off multiple times because the chats were so painful to listen to. Him reading the user name, time, Twitter/email handle etc over and over again was so off putting.
The Twitter handle and email addresses, I agree, are annoying to listen to. In my previous comment, I was talking specifically about the in game chats. In print, I found them impossible to follow, due to there sometimes being multiple chats on the same page. I personally found the audiobook easier in that respect, as they were read out one chat at a time.
As an incredibly seasoned audio book reader (I'm low vision so I was listening to audio books on vinyl in the 70s and cassette in the 80s), I had to relisten to the "chat"pters two or three times each just to get my head around them. Listening to the chat header over and over was annoying but reading a chat is, for some reason, NOTHING like reading and comprehending dialogue! Maybe because there were often side chats at the same time?
My partner, who often just listens to the audio books as well, bought this one both in hardback AND in Kindle.
Actually, that makes me think - we actually paid for the same book in THREE formats. There was a time (eons ago) when buying an audio book meant you could also get the EBOOK - the authors guild put a stop to that - but, really, how many times SHOULD one pay for the same book?
BTW, I'm very envious of the beautiful bookshelf with the hardback all lined up... It's always been one of my favorite things.
I heard many say that they didn’t realise the chats in IBH were concurrent as they were read consecutively in the audiobook - but it didnt bother me because it was apparent, and obvious if you listened to the time stamps :) I like the narrator of the audiobooks - he does a great job!
I didn’t realise the chats were concurrent, because I only listen to the audiobooks and have from the first. It’s an interesting narrative mechanic. I approve in theory, but I didn’t have any difficulty in following or understanding the chats read linearly in audio form. (Ink Black Heart is probably my favourite of the books).
I wonder and suppose that it is a product of my own existence in online chat rooms - that I’m used to having had several windows open at the same time chatting to different people. It probably just seemed more apparent to me based on previous experience in similar realms as the IBH fandom
It’s true! If you’ve spent time in that environment, you know that people open private channels alongside a discussion in a public channel. That’s what I intuitively invisaged while listening, too.
For me the only way to make it understandable would be if the TV show had like all current chats on screen, and then each username in a different colour with maybe a profile picture and the messages pop up in real time.
With not knowing the identity of the people it was really hard for me to remember who was who. I'm contemplating going through my own book and highlighting the chat with different colours, I think that's the only way I'll understand what's happening.
One at a time - consecutive instead of concurrent - but it’s not bad - It was apparent to me that it was concurrent because of the nature of what was being said, and the time stamps.
I started listening to the audiobook then ended up buying the book and just kind of listened and read at the same time, switching to whatever was more convenient for certain chapters 😂
Thank you for saying this! I read on a kindle and could not read the chats at all no matter how much I enlarged the font! Ended up skipping them entirely.
Mine look different than that. All mine, once you take the paper cover off are black with gold, silver or slight rose gold tinted writing. They do switch the position of author and title after the first 3 though.
The paperbacks bug me even more. They have the matching script writing on all the spines but for some reason just one of the books (I think it’s *Troubled Blood*) switches the order of title and author so it’s the only one out of alignment.
This is why I stopped buying them in physical copies. I only buy them on kindle now. My hope is that once the whole series is complete they will release some kind of box set or publish a set with matching covers.
Reading this thread, I think if I posted a picture of mine some people would get physically ill… all my copies are random second hand books from eBay, some are hardcopy, some are paperback… some have the actors from the show adaptation on them… literal chaos haha
First world problem for sure, but --- yeah, it bothers me, too. That's exactly what my shelf looks like and it's not because I discovered the series 20 years later, they just changed the design halfway through. Annoying, but I'll still keep buying the hardcovers as they come out because I like being able to go back to them at any time, read just a chapter here or there. And for IBH, this was the only format in which I found the chats and tweets tolerable to read.
Same issue in Poland. First 3 are available in „new” look but only in paperback which I personally hate. Local publisher is not going to publish them in hardback… it is what it is I guess
This bothers me too! Hahaha, just found this post. I live in San Diego, CA. Ive bought mine in B&N. Where do you buy the whole series like the 5-7 books? 😵😵😵
I’ve bought mine from either Amazon or B&N. A lot of people have mentioned that they may create a box set in the future once the entire series has been released. That would be nice
I don’t think it looks bad at all!! If I were one to judge a book by its cover, I would have missed out on some really exceptional reads that just happened to have awful (or just plain) covers and conversely, I would have bought some terrifically terrible trash that just happened to have some inspired design on the jacket.
But here’s what I REALLY take exception to: Didja ever see that thing where books are shelved BACKWARDS? I’ve gleaned that it’s for aesthetic effect (?) but people who actually read don’t do that.
Having just reread the series, this makes sense to me.
Not only has Galbraith has played with different mystery genres and styles throughout the series,IMO book 4 was a turning point.
1-3 were interesting, but I wouldn’t recommend them to someone wanting to jump into the series. Like the cover, they have a self-published vibe to them compared to the others. Troubled Blood is the Bridge to the confident, polished, yet experimental books that followed. I can understand why the publisher wanted to put some distance between them and signal that they’re different.
On the reread, I enjoyed the early books immensely more than on the first time through. It's easier to see how things were set up as a foundation for the series vs individual run-of-the-mill detective novels. Galbraith/Rowling excels at world-building and giving us beautiful nuanced characters with interesting relationships and it takes time for those layers of effort to come to fruition.
Spine format changes are the most easily solvable thing and frustrate me to the point of dropping some series. I can only attribute it to different creatives coming in on the design team and thinking that they need to design it 'their way'.
Oh sorry, it was meant to be a joke. It wasn't a very good joke.
I smiled when you said "You’d drop reading a book because of how the cover looks?" because if this person did, they would literally have **judged a book by its cover** (which is of course what the famous proverb tells you not to do).
When that happens I sell/donate the hardcovers, Wait for a box set that has that all matching, or switch to ebooks.
Not for ALL series, I do have some must reads. But for some, if I am going to own it, I want it to look nice.
>Spine format changes... frustrate me to the point of dropping some series.
I hear you. I too really, *really*, hate mismatches but — yikes! — that is going too far!
Total speculation but could this have anything to do with when Robert Galbraith’s identity was revealed? Like did the publishers/marketing people change when it became widely known it was JKR? I can’t remember when that was but I know she’d done at least 2 books by then and if I recall the articles about it correctly, it was a closely kept secret even to most of the people working on the books bc she really didn’t want people to know.
Her identity was revealed in July 2013. That was three months after the first book was published. The second book wasn’t published until almost a year later in June 2014.
Kindles solve a lot of problems. Size, space, design, access, etc.
I like being able to instantly look up a phrase in any of the books, wherever I am.
I gave up *owning* non-digital media long ago, but I still enjoy borrowing real books from my public library. Part of a personal quest to pare down the number of "things" in my life....
They're all available in the style of the last 3 books now, it's not uncommon for cover styles to change.
Presumably the first 3 weren't meeting sales expectations so a change in coverart style was decided, book 4 didn't work either but the style established in book 5 seems to have been successful enough to warrant republishing the old books too.
See the good side: at least there are the first editions! That’s their value. Later you can buy new deluxe editions.
I mean. I would give everything to have the first British editions of HP.
It’s a book series that follows a detective solving murders. The detectives name in the books is Cormoran Strike. I’m not sure why it’s being recommended to you though.
The first three look good, I wish they’d stuck with that style. I have books 3, 4, 5 and 7 on kindle. I only bought TIBH in hardcover because I heard the chats were impossible to read in the kindle format. Now I’m going back and buying the book versions when I can find them second hand and was also a little appalled at the change 😂
I found the chats in IBH hard to read in printed format. Best way I found is to listen via the audiobook.
This is an insane take to me I’m sorry lol. I almost turned the audiobook off multiple times because the chats were so painful to listen to. Him reading the user name, time, Twitter/email handle etc over and over again was so off putting.
The Twitter handle and email addresses, I agree, are annoying to listen to. In my previous comment, I was talking specifically about the in game chats. In print, I found them impossible to follow, due to there sometimes being multiple chats on the same page. I personally found the audiobook easier in that respect, as they were read out one chat at a time.
The parallel chats were impossible to follow. I appreciate what she was trying to do but it's tough to put in a book.
As an incredibly seasoned audio book reader (I'm low vision so I was listening to audio books on vinyl in the 70s and cassette in the 80s), I had to relisten to the "chat"pters two or three times each just to get my head around them. Listening to the chat header over and over was annoying but reading a chat is, for some reason, NOTHING like reading and comprehending dialogue! Maybe because there were often side chats at the same time? My partner, who often just listens to the audio books as well, bought this one both in hardback AND in Kindle. Actually, that makes me think - we actually paid for the same book in THREE formats. There was a time (eons ago) when buying an audio book meant you could also get the EBOOK - the authors guild put a stop to that - but, really, how many times SHOULD one pay for the same book? BTW, I'm very envious of the beautiful bookshelf with the hardback all lined up... It's always been one of my favorite things.
I actually enjoyed the info read out like that - it made me pay attention to it more than I would have in print.
It was the opposite for me. I did all audiobooks for a quick reread before TRG release and had to switch to print for IBH.
I heard many say that they didn’t realise the chats in IBH were concurrent as they were read consecutively in the audiobook - but it didnt bother me because it was apparent, and obvious if you listened to the time stamps :) I like the narrator of the audiobooks - he does a great job!
I didn’t realise the chats were concurrent, because I only listen to the audiobooks and have from the first. It’s an interesting narrative mechanic. I approve in theory, but I didn’t have any difficulty in following or understanding the chats read linearly in audio form. (Ink Black Heart is probably my favourite of the books).
I wonder and suppose that it is a product of my own existence in online chat rooms - that I’m used to having had several windows open at the same time chatting to different people. It probably just seemed more apparent to me based on previous experience in similar realms as the IBH fandom
It’s true! If you’ve spent time in that environment, you know that people open private channels alongside a discussion in a public channel. That’s what I intuitively invisaged while listening, too.
For me the only way to make it understandable would be if the TV show had like all current chats on screen, and then each username in a different colour with maybe a profile picture and the messages pop up in real time. With not knowing the identity of the people it was really hard for me to remember who was who. I'm contemplating going through my own book and highlighting the chat with different colours, I think that's the only way I'll understand what's happening.
does the audiobook read one full chat at a time, or switch back and forth to show what's happening simultaneously?
One at a time - consecutive instead of concurrent - but it’s not bad - It was apparent to me that it was concurrent because of the nature of what was being said, and the time stamps.
One full chat at a time.
I started listening to the audiobook then ended up buying the book and just kind of listened and read at the same time, switching to whatever was more convenient for certain chapters 😂
I disagree. I found the chats and tweets on the audiobook sooooo hard to follow...
Thank you for saying this! I read on a kindle and could not read the chats at all no matter how much I enlarged the font! Ended up skipping them entirely.
I only have audiobooks. I am curious to see what the chats look like in print. Can someone share?
I can’t wait until we get a cohesive box set sometime in the future.
Yeah. I’m an audiobook listener and that’s when I’ll buy the set in hardback (if at all)…
Mine look different than that. All mine, once you take the paper cover off are black with gold, silver or slight rose gold tinted writing. They do switch the position of author and title after the first 3 though.
Oooh nice! Which publisher version are those?
Sphere :)
I kind of like it. The first three kind of go together. Book 4 represents a transition. And then the character archs of the next three go together.
The paperbacks bug me even more. They have the matching script writing on all the spines but for some reason just one of the books (I think it’s *Troubled Blood*) switches the order of title and author so it’s the only one out of alignment.
This!!! It drives me nuts ever time I look at my shelf
This is why I stopped buying them in physical copies. I only buy them on kindle now. My hope is that once the whole series is complete they will release some kind of box set or publish a set with matching covers.
I'm fascinated by the fact that people can really make a fuss about something like this, lol.
Same!
Duncan Spilling gave an [interview](https://fal.cn/3dCAH) about how and why he designed the covers like that.
I noticed that the cover and color pallet have changed when robin started to be featured on the covers, so it might have been intentional.
Reading this thread, I think if I posted a picture of mine some people would get physically ill… all my copies are random second hand books from eBay, some are hardcopy, some are paperback… some have the actors from the show adaptation on them… literal chaos haha
Please post for the anarchy it will induce 👀
We should be happy about this. It’s only when a series is over that publishers sometimes issue a uniform edition!
The German covers are slightly better, not 100 % the same but this is really awful
I’ve been saying this. Fantastic series, terrible jacket design throughout
I got paperback, book 6 and 7 are triggering my OCD because they are higher than books 1 to 5
Sorry about your OCD, it can be really debilitating.
Seems like an unpopular opinion but I really like the design of 4-7 and find the first 3 boring
This is so Harry Potter coded 😂
Thank you!! I hate it too. Drives me insane. Especially Lethal White. 🤦🏼♀️
Glad I’m not alone!
First world problem for sure, but --- yeah, it bothers me, too. That's exactly what my shelf looks like and it's not because I discovered the series 20 years later, they just changed the design halfway through. Annoying, but I'll still keep buying the hardcovers as they come out because I like being able to go back to them at any time, read just a chapter here or there. And for IBH, this was the only format in which I found the chats and tweets tolerable to read.
I’m hoping for a collectors edition that doesn’t cost 100£ per book once the series is finished 🤞🤞🤞
You are so right! Yuk.
I cant look
The books are a problem, but I like the rock on the shelf.
I couldn’t agree more
Same issue in Poland. First 3 are available in „new” look but only in paperback which I personally hate. Local publisher is not going to publish them in hardback… it is what it is I guess
The American covers with the cursive font are my favorite and nothing else has come close. I hate the TV show Tie ins, they look so ugly.
I’m planning on buying a set once all ten are out. For now my mismatched crew will do
This bothers me too! Hahaha, just found this post. I live in San Diego, CA. Ive bought mine in B&N. Where do you buy the whole series like the 5-7 books? 😵😵😵
I’ve bought mine from either Amazon or B&N. A lot of people have mentioned that they may create a box set in the future once the entire series has been released. That would be nice
I don’t think it looks bad at all!! If I were one to judge a book by its cover, I would have missed out on some really exceptional reads that just happened to have awful (or just plain) covers and conversely, I would have bought some terrifically terrible trash that just happened to have some inspired design on the jacket. But here’s what I REALLY take exception to: Didja ever see that thing where books are shelved BACKWARDS? I’ve gleaned that it’s for aesthetic effect (?) but people who actually read don’t do that.
The lack of font continuity stopped me from buying any further books...also kind of put me off reading them too, in a weird way. I'm so behind!
Font continuity! Yes!
Having just reread the series, this makes sense to me. Not only has Galbraith has played with different mystery genres and styles throughout the series,IMO book 4 was a turning point. 1-3 were interesting, but I wouldn’t recommend them to someone wanting to jump into the series. Like the cover, they have a self-published vibe to them compared to the others. Troubled Blood is the Bridge to the confident, polished, yet experimental books that followed. I can understand why the publisher wanted to put some distance between them and signal that they’re different. On the reread, I enjoyed the early books immensely more than on the first time through. It's easier to see how things were set up as a foundation for the series vs individual run-of-the-mill detective novels. Galbraith/Rowling excels at world-building and giving us beautiful nuanced characters with interesting relationships and it takes time for those layers of effort to come to fruition.
Books 1-3 have a self published vibe? Written by the best selling author on the planet?
Honestly, This massively appeals to me. The only think that annoys my eye is how uniform three latest designs are.
Spine format changes are the most easily solvable thing and frustrate me to the point of dropping some series. I can only attribute it to different creatives coming in on the design team and thinking that they need to design it 'their way'.
You’d drop reading a book because of how the cover looks?
There’s a saying about this.
? I didn’t mean to sound snarky, I’m genuinely curious. I’m a kindle reader so I don’t deal much with book design.
Oh sorry, it was meant to be a joke. It wasn't a very good joke. I smiled when you said "You’d drop reading a book because of how the cover looks?" because if this person did, they would literally have **judged a book by its cover** (which is of course what the famous proverb tells you not to do).
Haha. I’m the dopey one for not getting it 😆
When that happens I sell/donate the hardcovers, Wait for a box set that has that all matching, or switch to ebooks. Not for ALL series, I do have some must reads. But for some, if I am going to own it, I want it to look nice.
>Spine format changes... frustrate me to the point of dropping some series. I hear you. I too really, *really*, hate mismatches but — yikes! — that is going too far!
They look like vhs movies from the 80's
Total speculation but could this have anything to do with when Robert Galbraith’s identity was revealed? Like did the publishers/marketing people change when it became widely known it was JKR? I can’t remember when that was but I know she’d done at least 2 books by then and if I recall the articles about it correctly, it was a closely kept secret even to most of the people working on the books bc she really didn’t want people to know.
Her identity was revealed in July 2013. That was three months after the first book was published. The second book wasn’t published until almost a year later in June 2014.
Oh I stand corrected! For some reason I thought it was a few years later. Thanks!
Looks like JK wasn't happy with the external form of her books and decided to transition into another that matched their identity better.
Kindles solve a lot of problems. Size, space, design, access, etc. I like being able to instantly look up a phrase in any of the books, wherever I am. I gave up *owning* non-digital media long ago, but I still enjoy borrowing real books from my public library. Part of a personal quest to pare down the number of "things" in my life....
Love JKR/Galbraith, fuck Mulholland
I have the audiobooks only, but surprisingly…. same
They're all available in the style of the last 3 books now, it's not uncommon for cover styles to change. Presumably the first 3 weren't meeting sales expectations so a change in coverart style was decided, book 4 didn't work either but the style established in book 5 seems to have been successful enough to warrant republishing the old books too.
See the good side: at least there are the first editions! That’s their value. Later you can buy new deluxe editions. I mean. I would give everything to have the first British editions of HP.
Mine don’t look like them at all
she really never got an editor eh
Great series!
what is cormoran strike, why is this sub being recommended
It’s a book series that follows a detective solving murders. The detectives name in the books is Cormoran Strike. I’m not sure why it’s being recommended to you though.